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About 500 plush dogs and cats are spread out with help from Lackawanna County Sheriff’s Department Cpl. Corey Cavalieri on Thursday at the Aaron Center in Dickson City, with more stuffed animals to be donated in the next few weeks.
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On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Joseph P. McDonald manned the switchboard at Fort Shafter in Hawaii when he received the alarming message that radar had detected a large number of planes approaching from the north, heading fast for Oahu.
(read more)

Motorists who use the Pango mobile app to pay at parking meters in Scranton will get reimbursed for any inadvertent overcharges since Sept. 1, the new operator of the city’s parking system said.
(read more)

However, the board must drop the notion of raising money for the program through dress-down days. It is tacky and in poor taste.

It is hypocritical to come up with a great idea and then bend over backward to try to get out of funding it. Budget for it.

The board should also consider extending this idea by paying for the first round of SATs. Since two out of three SSD students qualify as poverty level, it would be a beautiful thing if the district included the SATs with Mr. Mazzino's AP idea.

The real hypocrisy, though, is that the school board already budgets millions each year to carry three decades' worth of institutional bloating. By comparison, the price tag for AP and SAT testing would be a drop in the bucket when held up to what 30 years of political patronage job creation has cost, and continues to cost taxpayers.

In contrast to the progressive AP initiative, the new management-level hiring policy the district is implementing is another regression and nothing more than a mini version of the district's very old teacher hiring policy.

There is nothing new or innovative about this new policy, mostly because it is loaded with home cookin'. The heavy slanting of the new policy's point system to favor a select group of candidates instantly neuters its educational value.

It's the same for the teacher hiring policy. I believe that policy is the root of our student-failure problem.

JAMES DOUGHER JR.

SCRANTON

Adhere to rules, like schoolchildren

Editor: Oct. 1 was a day of rejoicing and shame. Rejoicing because for the first time in U.S. history, the vulnerable and the uninsured are able to sign up for health care insurance at a price they will be able to afford.

Shame because a fringe group prefers to use these people as pawns in its political games, rather than accept that the people voted for Obamacare in 2012, when they chose the president.

We teach our children to play by the rules, to accept the referee's decision, and not spoil the game for everyone simply because they aren't winning. It's a shame the GOP members of Congress aren't as mature as the average eighth-grader.

If you can't be part of the solution, tea party, then don't be part of the problem. Just get out of the way. Enough.

ROSALIND HUME

SCRANTON

Popes consistent, flock selective

Editor: I find Pope Francis to be a worthy successor to the vicarship of Christ's church. I also came to have great respect for John Paul II, and was awed at the intellect of Benedict XVI. I am curious as to when we have had a pope who did not exhort Catholics to be merciful, loving, compassionate - to in effect, live their faith?

Even the worst of the Borgias, at the end of the day, saw it as their sacred duty to call the multitudes to Christ.

The problem has not been the earthly shepherd but rather the sheep. The pope has not the power to force the many going-through-the-motions Catholics to actually live their supposed faith.

So yes, Francis is a joy. Perhaps some of that joy will find its way into the pews.

JEFFREY McHALE

SCRANTON

Objective must be real governance

Editor: It is a poor excuse for governing when the House of Representatives cannot pass the continuing resolution to fund the government. The money has been spent and now it is time to pay the bills.

Reps. Tom Marino and Lou Barletta should do the job they were elected to do or they may find themselves "unelected" next time around.

There are many Pennsylvanians who will be negatively affected by a shutdown. Do your jobs, please, and govern.

MAUREEN GRAY

SCRANTON

Rep. Tom Marino nonperformer

Editor: Is there a bigger hypocrite than U.S. Rep. Tom Marino? He's paid $174,000 annually yet has introduced no significant legislation during his first three years on the job.

His big accomplishments? Voting against the Affordable Care Act over and over again - which is to say, voting to deny his constituents health care coverage he has no qualms about taking for himself and his family - and shutting down our government and putting the economy at risk.

If Mr. Marino is re-elected to a third term, he will qualify for a lifetime pension. Let's make sure he doesn't get it. Let's throw him out of office next year and elect someone who will do something other than promote gridlock.

THANE PETERSON

WAYMART

Right to live a healthy life

Editor: Republicans shut down Washington last week because of the Affordable Care Act. The law was passed by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court. It gives many people like myself the right to affordable health care and most of all, a safety net in case of catastrophic illness. So why does Congress want to deny us that right?

Republicans preach for the right to life for unborn children. What about our right to live? A long and productive life free of medical hardship should be a basic human right. The Bible says life, all life, is precious, so why are uncompassionate Republicans trying to lessen the worth of human life?

Isn't the true value of America the sum of its workers' efforts and not the worth of its wealthiest citizens?

Allow affordable care to work. If the bill is flawed, then fix it. I have heard no alternative or fix to ACA proposed by Congress, only the cries of repeal. Most of those cries have come from a vocal minority, the tea party. They are acting like economic terrorists using threats instead of negotiation to get their way. They are a virus that has infected our government and the Republican Party.

Why must American lives be reduced to dollar signs? Has human life become a political bargaining chip? Is the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in America no longer guaranteed?

Tell our leaders in Washington we want to live.

GARY WESKERNA

SPRINGVILLE, SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY

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